Greece Hotels Maintain Strong Occupancy Levels While Short Term Rentals Continue To Capture Market Share And Push Travelers Toward Alternative Stays

Published on August 30, 2025

Greece’s hospitality assemblage is navigating a move displacement arsenic hotels support robust occupancy rates while short-term rentals steadily seizure a increasing information of nan market. Travelers are progressively drawn to replacement stays, seeking flexibility, unsocial experiences, and personalized accommodations beyond accepted hotels. This inclination reflects evolving recreation preferences and underscores nan request for nan edifice manufacture to accommodate while sustaining beardown performance.

Tourism trends successful Greece are shifting noticeably. Holidaymakers are splitting into 2 groups—those who fastener successful their plans months up to guarantee nan champion options, and those who clasp disconnected until nan last days to drawback last-minute deals. Increasingly, travelers are besides pushing their vacations into nan autumn season, drawn by milder temperatures and little crowded destinations. Even erstwhile they arrive, galore are opting for shorter stays, trimming down nan magnitude of their trips compared to erstwhile years.

This displacement successful user habits has created uncertainty for businesses crossed nan country. May and June arrivals fell short of expectations, but nan financial image told a much analyzable story. International arrivals successful June decreased by 1.7%, and nan first six months of 2025 posted only a humble 0.6% summation compared pinch nan aforesaid play past year. The slowdown was tied mostly to weaker request from European Union travelers, though an 8% emergence successful arrivals from extracurricular nan EU helped soften nan impact. Despite less visitors overall, revenues surged, coating a affirmative image for nan sector’s resilience.

Revenues Rise Despite Fewer Visitors

Tourism gross successful Greece recorded a beardown upswing, fueled mostly by value hikes alternatively than an summation successful visitant numbers. June unsocial brought an 8.8 percent emergence successful earnings, while nan first six months of 20 twenty-five delivered an eleven percent jump compared to nan erstwhile year. Altogether, nan state generated 7 constituent six six cardinal euros from tourism successful nan first half of nan year, a notable climb from six constituent 8 9 cardinal euros successful nan aforesaid play of 20 twenty-three.

Spending patterns uncover a striking shift. Visitors from awesome European markets specified arsenic Germany, France, and Italy accrued their recreation budgets astatine double-digit rates. The astir singular capacity came from nan United States, wherever travelers boosted their spending by astir 65% successful June and adjacent to 30% complete nan half-year. This translated into €704 cardinal flowing into nan Greek system from U.S. visitors alone.

Hotels Hold Steady but Face Pressure

Accommodation providers saw mixed results. Hotels reported occupancy levels adjacent to past year’s, supported by a surge of home travelers successful mid-August. However, maturation prospects remained constricted arsenic much visitors turned to short-term rentals. Platforms offering apartments and villas, specified arsenic Airbnb and VRBO, absorbed a important information of demand, reducing nan maturation imaginable for accepted edifice operations.

According to information from nan Institute for Tourism Research and Forecasts (ITEP), occupancy successful June averaged 78.5%, pinch nan value of a double room astatine €147. While these figures bespeak comparative stability, nan description of replacement accommodations signaled increasing competition. Even short-term rentals showed slower maturation successful immoderate over-saturated destinations, suggesting that request successful definite hotspots whitethorn beryllium reaching its limits.

Airlines Increase Capacity

August brought renewed optimism for Greece’s tourism sector, peculiarly successful aviation. Airlines added much than 5 cardinal seats to nan country, marking a year-on-year emergence of conscionable complete 4 percent. Demand from Israel stood retired arsenic particularly robust, underscoring Greece’s increasing value arsenic a premier destination successful nan Eastern Mediterranean. The strongest gains were recorded astatine Athens and Thessaloniki airports, highlighting nan expanding tie of Greece’s 2 largest cities arsenic vibrant, all-season recreation hubs.

Not each destinations, however, shared successful nan growth. Popular islands specified arsenic Santorini, Kos, and Zakynthos recorded declines, underlining a displacement successful traveler preferences. While these islands stay internationally recognized, their precocious costs and crowding during highest play whitethorn beryllium pushing immoderate travelers toward replacement destinations wrong Greece.

Autumn Becomes nan New Peak

The tourism manufacture now pins its hopes connected nan autumn season, arsenic recreation patterns progressively favour September and October. Bookings for September bespeak occupancy levels could scope 85%, pinch mean room rates climbing to €160. Demand appears much evenly dispersed crossed nan country, benefitting some starring destinations and smaller, secondary regions. Athens besides continues to pull beardown interest, supported by taste tourism and convention activity.

The inclination toward autumn recreation is not a brand-new development, yet it has accelerated noticeably successful caller years. Cooler temperatures, less crowds, and much appealing prices are drafting expanding numbers of visitors from Europe arsenic good arsenic distant world markets. For Greece, this displacement extends nan tourism calendar, ensuring a steadier watercourse of gross good past nan accepted highest months of July and August.

Challenges connected nan Horizon

Despite beardown gross performance, challenges remain. Reduced purchasing powerfulness crossed galore European countries could impact Greece’s expertise to prolong growth. Inflationary pressures and higher surviving costs time off travelers much cautious pinch their budgets. This inclination is already evident successful shorter stays and greater request for budget-friendly options. Even arsenic visitors walk much per travel owed to rising prices, they whitethorn trim backmost connected extras specified arsenic dining, excursions, and shopping.

The reliance connected higher prices to substance gross maturation besides raises questions astir sustainability. If pricing continues to emergence faster than user budgets, request could yet weaken. Destinations that already look signs of saturation whitethorn acquisition further strain if worth for money declines.

A Balancing Act for nan Future

Greece’s tourism assemblage stands astatine a crossroads, trying to equilibrium beardown gross maturation pinch shifting traveler habits. Earnings support rising and play a captious domiciled successful supporting nan nationalist economy, yet changing booking patterns and shorter, budget-conscious stays show that nan manufacture must enactment flexible. Extending nan play beyond nan tallness of summer, spreading request to lesser-known destinations, and addressing nan increasing rivalry betwixt hotels and short-term rentals will beryllium basal for semipermanent stability.

Airlines and airports are already adapting, expanding capacity and promoting metropolis tourism beyond nan islands. Hotels are focusing connected raising work value and targeting niche markets, while location destinations are investing successful experiences that entreaty to visitors seeking authenticity and value.

Greece’s hotels stay engaged moreover arsenic short-term rentals summation marketplace share, drafting travelers pinch flexible, personalized, and unsocial enactment options. This displacement highlights changing traveler preferences pushing request toward replacement accommodations.

Ultimately, Greece’s tourism outlook remains affirmative but complex. The manufacture is learning to thrive not conscionable connected visitant numbers, but connected spending patterns, seasonal shifts, and evolving traveler priorities. As autumn approaches, nan coming months will trial whether nan assemblage tin support momentum successful nan look of changing habits and world economical pressures.